Introducing the Public to Basic Principles of Reality

The devotees in Oradea, Romania rented a large hall and advertised a Krishna consciousness program to the general public. When I arrived to give my lecture on this topmost of all self-realization systems I was delighted to see the hall packed so full of people that some members of the audience had to stand or sit on the floor. After a kirtan that was wonderfully super-charged by the participation an enlivened assembly of Romanian and Hungarian devotees, I spoke for one hour to the interested audience explaining the basic principles of reality. Many sincere, intelligent questions were asked, and I got some challenges as well, which as usual were easily defeated by the powerful light of transcendental knowledge as revealed by Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavad-gita.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

Public Hall Lecture
in Oradea, Romania--18 April 2008Sankarshan Das Public Hall Lecture

Sankarshan Das Public Hall Lecture

Sankarshan Das Public Hall Lecture

Answers According to the Vedic Version:

Question: How to Conquer Smoking?

I read the Bhagavad-gita every day, and I also regularly recite the Hare Krishna mahamantra. Yet I am still addicted to smoking, which I very much want to to quit. Despite my efforts, I am unable to quit. Please guide me how I can come out of this disease.

Hare Krishna,

A.S.K. Prakash

Answer: Implement the Higher Taste Principle

The key to giving up your smoking habit is to understand and to practically implement the principle of higher taste. This principle is described by Lord Sri Krishna in the Bhagavd-gita as follows:

viṣayā vinivartante
nirāhārasya dehinaḥ
rasa-varjaḿ raso 'py asya
paraḿ dṛṣṭvā nivartate

"The embodied soul may be restricted from sense enjoyment, though the taste for sense objects remains. But, ceasing such engagements by experiencing a higher taste, he is fixed in consciousness." ---Bhagavad-gita 2.59

The more you increase your chanting, the less time you will have for smoking. Plus the more you increase your chanting, it will become sweeter and sweeter until you are deriving so much taste from it that you wouldn't even dream of going back to the disgusting, degrading taste of cigarettes.

Our initiated disciples vow to chant at least 16 rounds a day of the Hare Krishna mahamantra on japa mala beads. This comes out to at a minimum of 1,728 repetitions of the Hare Krishna mantra every day. So kindly increase your chanting more and more and your cigarette smoking will naturally fade away into oblivion.

Sankarshan Das Adhikari

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